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With all the layoffs taking place in corporate America, especially in the technology industry, budgets are getting tighter and tensions are building. Organizations don’t want to hire an employee today who they may need to lay off in the near future.
In addition, and a bit contradictory, the other end of the spectrum is the perennial struggle to find people with the right talent, background, and capabilities to fill current needs. The pipeline of talent for many positions is drying up—and this can be especially true for creative and marketing roles where employers are looking for top talent to fill needs ranging from copywriting and design, to video and website development, to event planning, and more. On top of that we see emergent needs as some organizations expand into the metaverse and artificial intelligence spaces.
Employers are scrambling to find—and afford—top talent, especially when they’re also on the hook for benefits. To fill these demands, Korn Ferry points out that “instead of relying only on full-time (FTE) hires, the latest hiring trends show companies are increasingly adopting contract employment.” The marketing industry is particularly poised to take advantage of this trend.
Marketing talent is in high demand. As they struggle to find the people with the current skills and competencies they need and within budget, employers are considering new options and partnering with creative staffing agencies. Contractors have been vital to many industries for a long time, but the pace at which companies are adopting this solution for creative and marketing support is increasing, from project-based hiring to ad-hoc freelance support.
Event planning is a primary example of where this type of temporary hiring of contract staff can work well. While many events were cancelled during the pandemic, they’re beginning to ramp up now and looking for assistance to help during peak times. A not-for-profit that holds recurring events and fundraisers, for instance, will likely need to scale and ramp up activities significantly ahead of time. This could take many forms, from marketing assistance and content creation, to organizing, event planning, and staffing.
This same kind of flexibility can be felt by companies that have heavy seasonal spikes in demand—during the holiday season, for instance.
Because marketing trends shift so frequently and because technology is continually evolving and advancing, the ability to hire talent to fill specific, niche needs can be especially beneficial for employers. This dynamic, fluid process can help spur creativity and innovation within your company, too.
In addition to the financial and demand-based flexibility benefits of hiring contract or temp staff, this type of hiring is also much more streamlined. Many of the hurdles that come with traditional hiring can be bypassed with creative staffing agencies.
This process is only further improved when companies partner with a specialized firm. This can be a very seamless, efficient, and quick process with turnaround time short enough to quickly fill gaps to meet unexpected demands. Such demands in the marketing space run the gamut, from production of video, the creation of new packaging materials, a new website or landing pages, or a space in the metaverse! Whatever the specifics, creative staffing agencies can match you with contract talent to help fill the gap in a convenient and flexible way.
Employers aren’t the only ones to benefit from the trend toward contract talent to fill marketing roles. Employees benefit too. Many have come to prefer the freedom and flexibility that can come through remote or hybrid roles—even valuing the ability to move from role to role between organizations, gaining experience and exposure as they do.
In fact, Envoy’s Return to the Workplace Report revealed that work flexibility “is the new employee benefit”—63% say that flexibility would make them feel more empowered and almost half feel that freedom to split time between the office and home along with flexibility in terms of when to work are just as important as traditional benefits.
These trends make temp hiring for creative and marketing positions more attractive (and necessary) than ever before. If you feel that temp staff could help you better balance your budget and marketing demand needs, Planet Interactive, one of the largest creative staffing agencies in the US, can help you explore the range of options available and help you find the top talent to fill those temporary needs.
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